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Summer’s Burden

This poor life-we demand so much of her. Give me happiness. Give me success. Give my children happiness and success. We place upon life’s shoulders the burden of impossible expectations, expectations that she cannot possibly fulfill, and then we, feeling so entitled, label her a disappointment.

We have divided every year of life into four seasons, each functioning to help us achieve fulfillment. Autumn must bring vibrant beauty to inspire us and cool temperatures to prepare us to head indoors and begin creative projects and academic pursuits. Winter, with her storms and frigid air, isolates and keeps us inside. She rids us of all distractions so that we may keep our heads down and continue working undisturbed. Then spring comes to tease us with her sweet air and gentle breezes, letting us know that the time has almost come to move away from our desks. Her’s is a balancing act-keeping us focused on our work with just enough wet weather and gray skies to finish what we have started, but also alerting us with her blossoming flowers and vibrant greenery that the days of toil are coming to a close. Then summer…..

Summer, the happiest of all seasons, has the greatest responsibility-to give us rest and in giving us rest allow us recharge. By lying out on sandy beaches and listening to waves lap upon the shore, we are supposed to quiet or minds, yet, at the end of ten weeks, we also expect to emerge better, clear headed and knowing how we should march forward into the coming year.

Sometimes, however, life does not cooperate and sends summer to us a bit weaker than we remember her in the past. We lie in the sun, but our bellies still quiver with worry. We sit quiet, but our minds do not rest. Summer’s long days seem to race faster than winter’s short ones. And now August has arrived.

August has arrived, reminding us how quickly time moves. We are now faced with the task of figuring out the answers to all the questions-the answers that summer was supposed to bring. We now must race to the sound of the cricket’s song, which will grow increasingly louder with the passing days, and find the answers before fall is upon us-all the while hiding our disappointment in summer, in life, and perhaps if we have leaned anything, in ourselves.